Trade Unions Congress
The Trade Unions Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the Union of Britain, representing all major trade unions within the country. There are over fifty affiliated unions with a total of about 15.3 million members, representing virtually every British worker. The TUC is the defining element of contemporary Syndicalism in the Union of Britain and dominates the political debate. Its current chairman is Philip Snowden. History The TUC was founded in the 1860s. The United Kingdom Alliance of Organised Trades, founded in Sheffield, Yorkshire, in 1866, was the immediate forerunner of the TUC. The first TUC meeting was held in 1868 when the Manchester and Salford Trades Council convened the founding meeting in the Manchester Mechanics' Institute. Arising out of the 1897 Congress, a decision was taken to form a more centralised trade union structure that would enable a more militant approach to be taken to fighting the employer and even achieving the socialist transformation of society. As the TUC expanded and formalised its role as the "General Staff of the Labour Movement" it incorporated the Trades Councils who had given birth to it, eventually becoming the body which authorised these local arms of the TUC to speak on behalf of the wider Trade Union Movement at local and County level. Also, as the TUC became increasingly centralised, the Trades Councils gained a greater degree of national organisational capacity. The 1899 Congress saw a motion "calling for a special conference to establish a voice for working people within parliament. Within the year the conference had been held and the Labour Representation Committee established (the forerunner of the Labour Party), but there was never a formal/organisational link between the TUC and the party. The Scottish Trades Union Congress, which was formed in 1897, is a separate and autonomous organization. British Revolution The general strike over coal tariffs began on March 6th 1925. All hope of peace vanished on March 11th, when a confrontation between the miners of the Tarenni Colliery and the Territorial Army unit sent to take over its operations turned into a bloodbath. The exact cause of the violence is disputed, but a rumor that the Army had been ordered to put down the strike by force was printed and spread by the TUC's official paper, The Daily Herald. Sporadic violence began to break out in other high tension locations across the country, each amplifying the others and creating a feedback loop that destroyed all sense of order in Britain. On the 15th, Scottish socialist John Maclean addressed a massive crowd in Glasgow's George Square, beginning with a denouncement of the Tarenni massacre, before escalating into an angry tirade against the crimes of the British government against the working class, past and present, and climaxing in a call for outright revolution. The Daily Herald carried it to the rest of Britain the next day, and the revolutionary spirit spread into the Territorials, who began to stand down and often join the forces of the TUC. The Labour Party's left-wing finally spoke out in favor of the revolution on the 18th, calling for the immediate resignation of the Curzon cabinet before being ejected from the House of Commons. Entire cities began to fall to the control of the General Strike. Of particular note was the Conservative stronghold Birmingham, whose delivery was credited to the oratory skills of former Tory and nobleman Sir Oswald Mosley. When the news broke on the 20th that London had been effectively encircled by revolutionary militia and Territorials, Prime Minister Curzon suffered a fatal bladder hemorrhage. Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Stanley Baldwin became the de facto Prime Minister, but the situation allowed for no formal declaration. Two days later, Baldwin ordered Parliament and the remaining loyal military forces evacuated to Canada, where the Royal Family had been "visiting" since the beginning of the crisis. The Union of Britain was officially proclaimed on 3 June 1925. With the majority of MPs having fled the country in the chaos, the few remaining radicals of the Labour party took the unprecedented act of passing the final legislation produced by the United Kingdom, legislation that would abolish both houses of Parliament, and the United Kingdom itself. In its a place, a new government was to be established, based around the long standing Trades Union Congress which had helped coordinate the actions of the General Strike, membership of the TUC was to be expanded to the entire adult population of Great Britain, creating a new representative government, for a new Britain. National role The TUC debates and decides the major political decisions for the future of the Union of Britain during the Congress of Trade Unions. The Congress of 1936 is highly anticipated, as Chairman Philip Snowden has previously stated that he intends to resign. Leadership Factions The TUC as an organisation has a number of political groups within its membership representing different ideas of Syndicalism. All have radically differing opinions of how the Union of Britain should be governed. Maximists The Maximists are a totalist political group led by Oswald Mosley. Writer Eric Blair supports the faction's efforts with the creation of propaganda. Though he is a strong supporter of Mosley, Blair's ideological commitment is known to be thin. Other Maximists include: C. S. Lewis, Phil Piratin, and Jack Jones. Autonomists Niclas y Glais leads the Autonomists faction which profess Radical Socialism. Federationists The Federationists are the faction of Philip Snowden, but rumoured to soon be led by Arthur Horner. Congregationalists Headed by Annie Kenney, a prominent suffragette, the Congregationalists are a pacifist and isolation faction of the TUC which and is most closely aligned with the Federationists. Barbara Castle, Enid Blyton, and H. G. Wells are all also members of this faction. Category:British-related topics Category:Political parties